Rising Altamont seniors and Mountain Brook residents David Zell and Isabel Coleman were the top placing Public Forum team from the state of Alabama at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, held June 18-23. Zell and Coleman were also the first team from Alabama to break the regional elimination round in Public Forum since the event’s inception in 2006. They advanced 11 rounds, finishing in the Top 19 to 30, before falling to a team from Durham, North Carolina, that would go on to compete in the semifinals.

Rising eighth grader JoJo Kelly, another Mountain Brook resident, advanced to the Octofinals of Public Forum in the middle school section of the tournament, with her teammate Jane Grey Battle. Out of 500 students, they placed in the Top 15.